Tag: TV

“NBC Sports Championship Season” coverage takes center stage this weekend with numerous high-profile events including the 147th Belmont Stakes featuring Triple Crown contender American Pharoah, Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Women’s and Men’s Finals in the 2015 French Open, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC, the IndyCar Firestone 600, the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix, and Lucas Oil Motocross.

In addition to this weekend’s events, “NBC Sports Championship Season” featured the first two legs of the Triple Crown, The Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and The Players Championship, which took place last month. “Championship Season” continues through July with the remainder of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning, and the 2015 Tour de France.

I think for better or for worse, I read the internet and I understand people are getting plot-twist fatigue, but personally I think we end the season with a run of episodes that were so twisty and turny and each one seemed to be more surprising than the next. I’m really proud of that. One of my litmus tests is, do we feel like we won’t be able to top it next season? And I certainly feel like we basically blew up the show and that continues on through the finale, so I’m really proud of that, because it’s something you can’t repeat — obviously you can’t blow up the show every year, so it’s exciting to me. The finale, when we finished writing it, I jokingly said I want to call it “Sticking the Landing” because there’s so many plot twists — and the thing about all the plot twists is, it’s all well and good but you’ve got to be able to explain it on the B-side, and all those questions have got to get answered, and at the same time you want it to be an entertaining episode on its own. It can’t just be 42 minutes of us reading Twitter and answering everyone’s questions, and knock on wood, I kind of feel like it’s satisfying in that regard. It answers the questions you have; it sets up new ones that hopefully people will carry into season four; it’s a very definitive ending…

People ask me, “does it end on a cliffhanger” and it really depends on your definition of a cliffhanger, because if your definition of a cliffhanger includes, “well how can they possibly continue to do this show after this episode?” then yes, this is very much a cliffhanger. [Laughs.] At the same time, it probably could function as a series finale if that’s the route we were going, but we’re at work on season four and I’m excited about what we’ve come up with.

ABC opted for stability in the fall, launching just five new series with no major shakeups to its nightly strategies. The network, which had momentum this past season with improved ratings, is clearly hoping to maintain its uptick, simply swapping dramas for dramas and comedies for comedies.

They’re the best-known protest organization against graphic TV sex and violence. Even if you don’t know their name, you’ve seen the results of their efforts. Those headlines about that long Sons of Anarchy sex montage? The furor over ABC’s Charlie Brown repeat leading into a Scandal sex scene? The content protests against Fox’s Family Guy, VH-1’s Dating Naked and CBS’ Stalker? All the work of the Parents Television Council, a 19-year-old oft-outraged Los Angeles-based organization that’s probably the best known remaining anti-indecency group around.

Last night Nickelodeon aired the finale of the animated spin-off series The Legend of Korra, bringing a nine-year journey that started with Avatar: The Last Airbender to a close. But perhaps “aired” is the wrong word. Because, in an unprecedented move, Nickelodeon pulled The Legend of Korra off TV earlier this year and screened almost the entire last two seasons online only. That’s right, something called The Legend of Korra, an adventure show about teenagers with the supernatural ability to manipulate the elements, pushed the envelope so far it got yanked from TV. And last night, during the finale, creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino shoved that envelope even further. And they shoved it hard. Kids TV may never be the same again.

NBC Sports Group and World Series of Fighting (WSOF) have reached a multi-year agreement extending and broadening NBCSG’s exclusive rights to televise the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts promotion’s events through 2017, it was announced Tuesday.

The multi-year renewal extends the partnership, which began with World Series of Fighting’s debut in November 2012, and includes multiplatform rights to the organization’s events, which will be televised on NBCSN and NBC, and featured on NBC’s digital platforms.

NBC Sports Group will televise 14 World Series of Fighting events live this year, including NBC’s first-ever broadcast of mixed martial arts when “World Series of Fighting 11: Gaethje vs. Newell” takes place July 5, followed by a year-end card on NBC on December 27. Additional events will be added to NBC and NBCSN schedules in ensuing years.

With only five nights of programming and two hours of programming per night, The CW’s schedule has fewer pieces than any of the others that have been revealed this week, but the network’s 2014-2015 lineup, announced on Thursday (May 15) morning, still held a few surprises.

Community died today as it lived: frenetically and suddenly. The culty show that had improbably survived for five seasons, borne aloft by the impassioned frenzy of its tweeting fans, will now be buried with a 21-hashtag salute. Barring a miracle, there will be no sixth season. Barring an enormous lapse in judgment, there will be no movie.

Though I am not surprised, I am sympathetic. I completely understand the need to mourn the show’s passing. If you are among the many (but, clearly, not enough) 18-to-49-year-olds gutted by this decision, it makes sense to take some time to process your loss, to gnash your teeth and pray to the dread god Sarandos for a second — no, third — no, fourth chance. For you, today truly is the Britta of days. But when you’re ready to come out of the Dreamatorium, it’s useful to remember one thing: You already won.

Now that NBC has locked up television rights for the Olympics through 2032, the NBA league contract that expires in two years is basically the only major sports rights package available before 2020. That means the NBA has a strong negotiating position in the marketplace as its television contract gets close to an expiration date.

“The NBA’s television contract is coming up at a favorable time in the cycle,” said Marc Ganis, president of Sports Corp Limited, noting that professional football, baseball, and hockey, as well as college football, all signed new long-term national television rights deals in recent years. “There are more networks in the marketplace that need NBA games than will get them.”

This week’s episode of “Arrow” sees Slade (Manu Bennett) poised to unleash his army of crazed, superpowered and Mirakuru-infused criminals on Starling City as part of his multifaceted revenge-fueled plot. So what could a police officer like Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), even one on close terms with the Arrow (Stephen Amell), have to offer?

Looks like quite a bit, according to Blackthorne. The actor told CBR News that the final three episodes of “Arrow” second season contain major tests for the Starling City Police Department — and talks about his character’s journey over the past year, Quentin’s desire to not know the Arrow’s secret identity and what he’d like to see for Lance in Season 3 and beyond.